XCOM:Enemy Unknown - The Long War
by Regan Bladehill
Summary: Point-of-view of an average soldier dragged into a war larger than himself as he struggles to come to terms with the war, his lost country and his own place in the future he creates.
1. Chapter 1 - The Beginning of the End

As a saying goes: "Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying." That night where one of them was proven true would be seared into my memory for a long time coming. On March 15th, 2015, I was listening in on FM radio as news of the first contact went on the airwaves. My initial disbelief of the event turned into horror as more news sources spoke of an invasion from aliens. The live footage from Sydney played out on my desktop, depicting energy blasts tearing holes in cars, green tendrils capturing live humans, sucking them into a wanton mess and even a UFO in the sky. The sheer desperation on the people's faces only spoke of the horrors they were trying to escape from. It looked entirely like an old C-grade sci-fi movie. The worst reality of all: I was serving in my country's national service, as a regular soldier. No doubt that I would eventually be called up to take arms against this alien threat, local or otherwise.

Sleep completely eluded me that night; thoughts of fighting in a war against an unknown enemy, superior in both numbers and technology kept me quivering in fear. The only source of brief respite was that Australia was being attacked now, not Singapore, where I resided. But what was a few thousand kilometres compared to distances in the universe?

As dawn broke the next morning, the platoon I was in, along with six other platoons, were called up for an emergency briefing. By then, news of an alien invasion had spread like wildfire across the camp, met with scepticism and disbelief. No one wanted to believe that there were actually _aliens_ invading Earth. Regardless of our opinions, _a response has to be mounted against the possible threat to our homeland_, as said by the Colonel addressing us.

Within days, more news of the invasion came in from across the world. Civilians were evacuated, rescued. UFOs were intercepted with varying results, and conventional warfare against the aliens were nearly always met with defeat. The aliens had little trouble brushing aside small-arms fire, it seems. There were also incidents of soldiers mixing up the enemy and allied lines, firing upon friendly troops. The war spread with ease across the globe. In no time at all, it would probably arrive here. It was only a matter of time.

When it did, however, we were all but prepared for the ferocity of the alien's attack.

* * *

><p>"Corporal! I need you on that MG now!"<br>My Sergeant yelled at me over the din of plasma fire. The alien's fire power was indeed overwhelming. Over the course of an hour we had easily lost two whole districts out of five, and were struggling to hold the central region of the island. Being an urban island, cover was plenty for both the aliens and ourselves, though we seemed to need it much more desperately. The MG however, seemed to be a death sentence. Three people have already been shot while manning the MG and I didn't wish to be the fourth. The aliens were uncannily accurate.

Regardless, I had sworn an oath to defend this country. Climbing onto that MG and dying in the course of defence seemed to be a better idea than watching the last days of Earth and loved ones dying or being captured by aliens. The MG did offer a wide view of the situation and some limited cover as well. As I began to fire upon one of the many small grey humanoids, it darted behind a car and made some eerie squeaks. Nearly immediately a purple aura flowed from behind that car to another similar alien, which promptly fired at me from the side. Moreso out of fear than reaction, I ducked under the MG just to feel the green plasma fly by where my head had been. These aliens coordinate on a higher level than ourselves; another superiority over us humans. Who knew what else they know?

A scream of pain wailed by my right. Someone had been hit. That put the platoon I was with down to 8 men from 27. 7 had been killed instantly by the plasma fire from the initial fire. 12 more fell one by one as our cover got torn apart by alien guns. Our options, and morale, was falling fast. Peeking out from under the machine gun, I plucked a grenade from my belt and pulled the pin. The one sending out the purple aura appeared as the biggest threat, thus I chucked my grenade at it.

"Grenade out!"

The resulting explosion blew up the alien and it's cover, killing it instantly. What surprised me was that the purple aura soon faded to a pale yellow, snapping soon after. Over by the side I then heard the other alien cry out, toppling over itself. What sorcery was that? Clearing my mind, I swung the MG to point at the next alien I could see and began firing upon it. It then ducked behind a wall, purple aura soon flowing out from behind that wall. Without thinking, I ducked under the MG again.

Sure enough, green plasma flew right where my head would have been. Ironic, the machine gun is the one being suppressed instead of doing the suppressing. Still that left me stuck in place, under the machine gun that threatens to take my life, yet has saved it twice. Another wail of pain. Things were getting desperate. The MG I was under took a hit as well, rendering it useless. I crawled away from it, safe behind a wall of concrete which was once a shop wall. Ahead of me, I could see my platoon sergeant lying on the ground, eyes open in shock and blood pouring out of his chest. _We are going to die here._

The distinct roar of a plane engine captured the attention of some of the aliens firing upon us, leading them away to some fifty yards away where it landed. Likely a foreign plane; Singapore did not have any vertical landing planes. Regardless, that leaves the 7 of us in the platoon with a handful of aliens to fight. Someone tossed out a grenade at the wall one of the aliens were hiding behind, yelling, "Grenade out! Chance now platoon, charge!"

My training overtook my thoughts as I charged out, firing wildly at the first thing I saw. Adrenaline coursed through my body as the grenade's explosion rocked me to my side, topping me over. Rolling, I struggled up and continued running forward, gunning anything non-human. Somewhere along the way someone must have hit a car's fuselage; petrol started leaking out onto the road. Even after bracing myself as best I could, the explosion still sent me off my feet, my body careening into a nearby wall. Vision whitening, I struggled to see the result of our reckless charge. Four human bodies laid upon the ground, along with eight alien corpses. Someone was approaching me from behind the aliens, gunning them down as she ran. Was I watching myself from the afterlife? Consciousness giving way, I glimpsed at the logo emblazoned on her torso before passing out.

"Vigilo Confido".


	2. Chapter 2 - The Unanswered Questions

Two weeks passed since I was knocked out in combat in my very first battle against the aliens. For the prideful, it may be an embarrassment, laden with guilt; coming out unconscious when relief services and military personnel were stretched thin. Myself, I'm just happy to be alive. Even with the platoon I was in practically decimated, with only two survivors, I was given an unofficial promotion upon my return and recovery, tasked with the hasty training of the volunteers who were willing to fight. A desperate situation, given that all males in Singapore undergo mandatory National Service, the remaining civilians were those who did not and those unable to partake. To these civilians, I was a person to be respected; one of the few soldiers who have killed the aliens and survived first contact. _I was but a 21-year old child._

"Your arm is shaking. You would not hit the aliens if your gun keeps shaking."

"S-sorry. This is my first time using a gun and.." The volunteer fell silent.

Until two weeks ago, I had not fired a gun upon any living being as well. The ability to cut short a person's life was a heavy burden. Yet the aliens were brandishing their weapons so freely, killing and_ abducting_ people like cattle. This volunteer I was currently assisting was one of the twenty under my charge, a young girl no more than eighteen years old.

"..and father hasn't returned." Her tears started to well up. All around the range, the grim faces on the other volunteers looked at me for confidence. For some inspiration that the aliens could be defeated, that this was some freak event that would go back to normal. I had nothing to give, save for an alien blown up and another shot.

"Try to focus on shooting for now. Your father is out there somewhere, taking the fight to the aliens for your future. You must believe that he will come home safe." A white lie, hopefully.

The girl nodded, turning her head back to the range and her target. There was little to say, save for tips here and there on how to fire the weapon better. She probably knew the truth as well. I went to another volunteer, a greying woman well past her prime. She was struggling with her jammed rifle.

"Here, unload the magazine then turn and pull this bolt here and release." I did it with the dummy rifle I was holding.

She nodded in appreciation. "Everyone here knows how dire the situation is, that's why we volunteered. Some of us are still terrified though. Thanks for allowing us to help."

Momentarily confused, I nodded and watched as she fired at the test dummy. Three out of ten rounds hit.

* * *

><p>That night, I mulled over the strange airship that had come to my rescue two weeks ago, as well as "Vigilo Confido". When I asked the ones who had supposedly found me unconscious, they replied that they did not find anyone else save myself and the other survivor who only saw the airship. The foreign languages I knew didn't cover this phrase and the public internet service providers in Singapore were down. My rank clearance did not allow me access to computers with access to the top secret information on the aliens as well. Taking a rough guess in English, all I had was "Vigil Confide", which made little sense.<p>

Stumped, I rested on my makeshift bed as I recalled what I could about the incident. The weapons they used fired bullets, not plasma, so they were likely a human paramilitary force. If Singapore possessed such a strange airship, it would have been used in the first wave of defence against the aliens and be scrap by now. The person who ran toward me was a woman as well, with navy blue hair. That was not at all local, nor common. Blue-haired women in the military, if this were peacetime she would be an idol among the soldiers. Unlikely to be Singaporean then. A strange airship, unusual soldiers and human weapons.

But why Singapore? What did these soldiers achieve? Their presence showed that there was something of value here, at least. Singapore was a country with little natural resources, our only "resource" being "human resource", as our Prime Minister had said. Unless there was something that was recently uncovered, they would probably be looking to find a person. Regardless, since the first day the alien attacks continuously slowed, from a rampaging pace to a more controlled, measured pace, as if content to pressure us into submission instead. Yet each time a fight broke out, at least half of the human participants would end up dead or dying, while the aliens made an organised retreat. Our resistance was slowly dwindling. Again that begged the question: "Why?"

Mind swimming in questions unanswered, I slowly fell into a slumber as a voice quietly hissed in the hallway outside.

"Yes we have the data. The compound has also been mapped, undetected. Ready to act as necessary."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Yes this is(albeit loosely) based on a Long War mod playthrough. How close I'll be to the original story remains to be seen, but major events (such as progression of alien lifeforms and character skills) I'll retain. Thanks to those who have read and reviewed, it is much appreciated!**


	3. Chapter 3 - A Captive Rescued

Hearing the sound of air raid sirens have been more commonplace since the start of the _alien war_, as everyone generally calls it, although being woken up by the sounds of one hardly makes an encouraging morning. Rolling out of my bunkbed, I made a mad dash for the armoury to get ready for combat. All around the barracks was an agitated rush of people trying to get their equipment or to their stations as the shifts changed for the morning. Whatever remained of the AA guns swung around in anticipation as our radar scanned the area for any contacts. Not surprisingly, those who were on the night shift had to stay up till the shifts changed completely and the attack was deemed over.

Approaching the armoury, one could see a line already formed. People in various states of dress were queuing up for their body armour and rifle, before being assigned squads and areas to guard. I spotted a familiar face in the line, the same young girl that teared up at the range now nervously receiving her body armour from the armourer, even though it was slightly too big for her. The country was desperate indeed, what with needing even young girls to fight in a war. Behind her stood two extremely tall men, dressed in blue suits. Both sporting huge tinted glasses, they spoke softly to each other while glancing out at the parade square, now used as a vehicle bay. Looking in the same direction, I saw three tiny specks in the distant sky. _Why aren't the AA guns firing yet?_

Moments later, I found myself toward the right side of said vehicle bay, with that young girl and the two tall men assigned under me. Somehow, the AA guns had yet to fire off a single round. Although one of the UFOs flew off, the sight of two intact UFOs close up brought a strong sense of impending doom. In the first wave of attacks weeks ago the combined strength of the Air Force and Navy could not even bring down a single UFO. Their "impossible maneuvering and fire-power" gave them near invulnerability to the missiles and armour we had. Now there were two, one bearing down to land in the middle of the vehicle bay.

"...Sir? The aliens are going to kill us aren't they?" A small, quivering voice in contrast to the sea of yells and commands the other squads were giving each other. The UFO began to descend in the middle of the bay. I turned to see that young girl looking terrified, yet trying her best to hide it.

Lies would be useless when the truth is so obvious, so I simply nodded. "..Yeah."

Her face fell into utter defeat as she turned to face the UFO, glowing in its radiant lime glimmer. To land in the middle of the enemy base, the aliens were confident indeed. I gritted my teeth, annoyed. While they may be superior to us in warfare, was it not completely rude to disregard the enemy's abilities like this? Hopefully their overconfidence would give us a chance to attack back.

"Listen. The aliens are confident that they would crush us with little effort as well. They already know of our inability to damage their ships, so they insult us by landing in our base." I somehow drew a pointed glare from one of the two tall men assigned to me, but I carried on. "But overconfidence precedes carelessness. They forget that outside their UFOs, they can still be shot and killed. The fact that I am here proves it. So calm down and remember what I taught you, okay?"

"Stay calm, breathe steady, hold down the sights and gently squeeze the trigger." She recited and rested her gun on a crate, taking aim at the UFO. Her expression didn't change and her hands were still shaking, but at least I got her to face the enemy.

I turned to look at the tall man who was still glaring at me.

"Did I say something wrong?"

He didn't reply, but continued to stare at me. Through his tinted glasses, I caught a glimpse of amber in his gaze. _...Why are his eyes orange?_ After a moment of silence, I turned back to the UFO. It too, had began glowing a bright orange. Shocked, I turned around again to look at the man. His expression turned into a wide grin, and before I could notice the razor sharp teeth the world roared and quaked in a radiant orange flare, sending me face flat on the ground, vision and hearing cutting short in an instant.

* * *

><p><strong>Fear.<strong>  
>An invasion of immense scale. Chaos and destruction, the sky rains fire.<p>

**Pain.**  
>Entire colonies slaughtered. Not a single child lives.<p>

**Sorrow.**  
>Utter loss. Civilization dwindles from millions to but a thousand.<p>

**Exodus.**  
>Submission. Deprivation. Master and Slaves.<p>

**Silence.**  
>. . .<p>

The world shook again, this time longer and more violent, yet suppressed. Head crying out in frustration, thoughts spinning painfully, as if a clamp was crushing down on my head. Yet when I opened my blurred eyes again, the scene that awaited me confused me even more. A swath of small fires and wreckage in a circular, greenish-area of metal. Around laid tanks of varying sizes and damage, all filled with or leaking orange liquids. Some of them held other objects within them. Two familiar blue figures took cover behind the edge of what looked like a long control panel. Though sound was mostly muted, I swear I could hear the reports of rifles being fired as well. Outside the interior of metal was a fuzzy sight of lush woodland, with dawn breaking over the horizon.

Reaching up to rub my eyes, I found myself in what passed as a glass tank, half-filled with some strange orange fluid. The other tanks held the wet remains of a deer, a rabbit, a squirrel as well as other woodland creatures. There was also a broken tank on the ground with another human in it, facing away. That person didn't seem to be conscious, however, lying on the ground in the middle of a battlefield. Looking at the other captives in this UFO, one could probably guess the aliens were capturing all types of creatures for some reason. But what is this orange fluid?

Meanwhile, the fight was progressing, with bullets and plasma flying against each other. Moments after the first blue suited man died, a pack of small flying robots had flown up and started firing toward the forest as well. Almost immediately two grenades flew out from nowhere to land amongst the robots, blowing up two and severely damaging another,which was swiftly gunned down. Those firing from the forest, given that they used traditional bullets and tactics, were probably some human military force. There was little to do while stuck in a glass tank but to watch the battle unfold. And so I did.

After what felt like fifteen minutes passed, the firing stopped as a reptilian scream tore through the air, spewing green miasma all over where it came from. The human soldiers then, with small amounts of trepidation, walked into the remains of the UFO I was in. The one sporting an army crop auburn hair of them noted the human body on the floor, sighing and looking away. _That person was probably dead then._ Another one, bloodied by the arm, picked through the remains of the broken tanks, looking for something. The last one however, stared straight in my direction.

"Central, we have a live human captive here."

* * *

><p>AN: The first run died by April..Playing C/I for the first time from normal is some jump in difficulty. Still, dying by April is too sad, considering LongWar gives 6 squad members to use. So now I'm trying another C/I run because I'm stubborn, but playing slowly and carefully. I'm kinda annoyed at myself though, can't seem to put the ideas in my head down onto words as well as I would like it, even with mission screenshots to guide myself.


	4. Chapter 4 - Vigilo Confido

Amidst the hushed hurriedness of the laboratories, two figures stood behind a one-way mirror, discussing their best course of action as they observed the captive recover from Dr. Vahlen's "interrogation". After recovering all possible scraps of technology from the downed UFO, the science team had been working around the clock to bring any edge humanity could muster against the alien force. To that end, the doctor had been ruthless, dismissing the traditional method of extracting information from subjects for a newer, faster method.

"You may not have seen it in action Commander, but Dr. Vahlen's interrogation methods certainly are..efficient. Its only been four hours since the strike team returned to base with that..." his voice trailed off.

An older voice filled in, "person, Bradford. Based on the circumstances, I believe that the aliens have been trying to capture Earth's lifeforms in the hopes of studying them. And as from what we've seen of the aliens offensive so far, I'm led to believe that total destruction isn't what they're playing at."

Bradford mused in thought. "Certainly that seems to be true. But what other agenda could the aliens have..?"

Their conversation died as the subject stirred, slowly waking up within the white-walled room. Confused, it looked around the room for any semblance of familiarity as it began to come to terms with where it was. Within the observation room, the two figures watched silently, failing to notice the doors to the room whiz open for a blonde woman in a plain lab coat.

"Commander," she began, trying to catch the attention of the people in the room, "based on the earlier investigation, my team has been able to determine some new information about the specimen, and the aliens."

The person addressed as Commander looked on at the subject, nodding to the doctor to continue.

"The subject appears to still be mentally human, though based on the foreign substance found in his bloodstream shows some attempt at genetic modification. Based of what I've recovered from his bloodstream, this substance appears to be a remarkable suspension of cybernetic nanomachines - each made up of organic and mechanical components."

"With due respect Doctor, how sure are you that this _person_ is not under alien control?"

Dr. Vahlen turned to Bradford, acknowledging his concern as she flashed her datapad's data to a screen in the room.

"The subject exhibits little evidence of alien tampering within its mind. Between his erratic thoughts during the interrogation, there have been neural links between certain images and emotions. This image in particular," flashing an image of a young black-haired girl, "appeared thrice with some semblance of worry flashing out each time."

"And how is that going to-"

"And. This image appeared right after that in all three instances, along with very discernible anger and respect." The screen changed to display a thin man, donning huge black sunshades and a blue suit.

"That's the other two creatures we encountered?"

Dr. Vahlen nodded. "As you can suspect from the eyes and skin around the neck, the other creatures have been genetically modified to make them appear human. Our subject is instead a human being prepared to be modified to..something else. In any case, the subject is most likely adverse to the alien threat."

The Commander's voice cut in, "What about the substance that the subject was contained in? Can we analyse it further?"

"Unfortunately, the substance seems to have destroyed itself by the time it came back to the labs. What I've observed of the substance was taken from the subject's bloodstream, which I have a limit to without endangering the subjects life. Commander, the next time we find this substance on the field, we should take care retrieve those canisters of the substance in one piece."

The Commander nodded, turning from the observation panel. A laboratory staff had entered the room to speak to the subject, along with an armed guard.

"I agree. The subject should still be human. Bradford, I want one of the survivors from Delta team to stand watch over the subject. Keep him under observation."

"Yes Sir."

* * *

><p>White, blinding light flooded my vision as I awoke. <em>Who puts a blinding lamp directly over a bed?<em>

Rolling onto my side, I find myself greeted by a plain-looking hospital room, or what appeared to be one, though it did not have a window. A single ward, even. Off to the side, a lone drawer with a quiet potted plant sitting atop. The bed itself was pure white, atop a metal carriage. Otherwise the white room was completely bare. Looking around in confusion, the room seemed to be missing the most common implements - a door. Propping myself up into a sitting position on the bed, I began to recap what has happened so far.

I was a soldier serving in Singapore's National Service. The aliens attacked, we lost most of the armed forces and estates. During a routine patrol we were ambushed, caught out and subsequently killed off. Due to the sudden appearance of a strange airship myself and another soldier survived. Then their invasion slowed to a crawl.

Subsequently the base was attacked, by 3 UFOs, one of which landed in the vehicle bay, it then roared with a radiant orange that knocked everyone unconscious. There was a young girl, who was terrified beside me. And there were the two tall men in blue, who perhaps turned out later to be alien infiltrators? Nevertheless, it seems I was taken-

"Good afternoon, Mister."

Startled, I looked up to see a pair of dark brown eyes looking back at me. A young doctor was checking up on me, running through a checklist with clipboard in hand. Figure it'd be rude to stay silent, I replied, "Hello, Mr...?"

"Doctor. It'll be fine to call me by my profession for now."

..Fine. If he has to address people by their jobs, either he's got some issues with personality, or I was caught in a position I shouldn't have been.

"Doctor, how did you come in?"

He raised an eyebrow. "By the door behind me, of course. How else?"

Craning my neck to look behind him, I saw what appears to be a dark tunnel in this room of pure white. By the entrance was a guard, armed with a strange rifle. Her hair was a deep navy blue. Strange, that entrance was never there in the first place. Still, there was something else which intrigued me.

"Doctor, is blue hair common in this place?"

"Not at all, as it should be, though we have one or two personnel with blue hair. Why would you-", he said as stopped writing, glancing at the guard behind him. He appeared to be done with his checklist.

"..Checking out the ladies on your first day of recovery? I'd say you're quite the _energetic_ sort eh?"

I groaned. This doctor completely got the wrong idea.

"Doctor. Blue hair is rare to the point of being non-existent barring hair dyes. Given that this is probably a _military installation_,"I said, gesturing to the guard, "I'd say it warrants some questions."

The doctor frowned. Apparently he is not the sort who is used to being derailed in thought. "I'll be asking the questions Mister. It's good that your capacity for thinking has recovered well, though I'd prefer it if your memory of recent events are as clear. Regardless, rest for now. I'll be back later."

Saying that, Doctor left in a huff. The blue haired guard shot me a questioning glance, before heading out the tunnel, sealing it after herself.

Looks like I just found the answer to this "Vigilo Confido".

* * *

><p>AN: Long War really lives up to it's namesake. LONG. War. Other than that, I've been bravely defaulting my time out of camp to play games instead. Procrastination is a killjoy, probably.

As a side question, would it be better to have multiple short(like now) chapters for a single event, or a single long one per each larger event?


	5. Chapter 5 - Forced Hand

The next two to three days passed uneventfully. "Doctor", as he identified himself as, came in quite frequently to perform some checkups on me, as well as deliver me my meals. That was how I guessed the passing of time with in this solidarity room. We often spoke as he performed his procedures, though mostly about random inconsequential things. Apparently Doctor chose to be a doctor because he could look into the lives of many different people, and enjoyed knowing their life stories and conditions. Strangely, he seemed to have some fascination for my blood, which he took quite often, providing me with some strange jelly to suck on after each sample was taken. Each time he came in, the blue-haired soldier stood guard by the "door" which he came in from. She on the other hand, kept to the door silently, though the changing expressions on her face every so often showed that she was listening in. It seems like I was in a sealed containment room in this facility. When questioned about it however, Doctor simply shrugged the question off, saying that I was not allowed to know. That was, until I brought up the term "Vigilo Confido" causally as he took what was probably the 8th blood sample. His demeanour changed completely after he heard that.

"Where did you hear of that?"

"Maybe if you'd answer some of my more practical questions we could trade information, Doctor."

The doctor narrowed his eyes, but kept his mouth shut. _So his mouth is being kept shut._ Staying completely silent after that, Doctor left with rapid footsteps, clearly rushing off to bring this information to his superiors. As the guard shut the tunnel-door behind her, I stood up to stretch my limbs. Even with all the blood samples taken from me, I did not feel the least bit lethargic. Instead, I felt as if I was brimming with energy after a long vacation and sleep. Odd, but comforting.

After what felt like half an hour the tunnel-door opened again, this time bringing a single man in a green sweatshirt, four more armed guards and the blue-haired soldier. The way the soldiers flanked him as they came in showed that he was probably their sergeant, or something of similar status. What caught my attention the most though, was the patch on his sweatshirt, which held a giant "X" and the worlds "Vigilo Confido" above them. Sitting cross legged on the bed, I watched as one of the soldiers set up a collapsible chair, which he sat on. We eyed each other for a moment after that, silent despite the mountain of questions I had for him, and probably he had for me. The blue-haired soldier awkwardly cleared her throat. "Sir..?"

"Based on what the doctor has told us of his interaction with you, you seem to have some knowledge of both our organisation and this soldier when you should not. Would you like to tell us how?"

"It would be strange to hold a conversation with a complete stranger, would it not?", playing it abit rude would annoy him, but trying to find out what this person and organisation wants with me is probably, in reverse, my best way out.

"I am Central Officer Bradford. And as you might know, we recovered you from an alien UFO. So while I would like to know who you are, I think I'd rather find out _what_ you are, and how you know of us.", gesturing to nowhere in particular.

"I am Daryl Kai, a human from Singapore's Armed Forces. Your soldier there," I said as I pointed to the blue-haired soldier, "I saw save what was left of my squad as we were overrun by alien forces. Curiously, who are you people?"

He nodded skeptically, as if unconvinced of who I was. "We are from X-Com, or the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit, a military organisation who are charged with defending Earth from alien invasions. How did you end up being abducted alive by the aliens if you were part of an armed forces?"

As I thought of the best way to respond without playing down of Singapore's attempts to thwart the alien invasion, a twinge of apprehension climbed up my back. "For you to so easily tell me who you are, especially if you are not a national military organisation, would mean that I'm probably not leave this place at all right?"

Bradford made a small, unnerving smile. "So the doctor was not wrong about you. Regardless, even if you could, there is nothing left of your home country to return to, save small bands of civilians hiding in the shadows. Your military and government have completely been killed or gone into hiding."

Sighing, I asked again. While I suspected that to be the case after that UFO landing in the base, I kept the hope that Singapore still had some form of resistance to the invasion. "No chance at all?"

"No."

"Then what's the point of telling you anything if I'm not going to leave your clutches alive?"

"The difference being, Mr. Kai, that if you'll tell us what happened we would be better equipped to counter the alien threat and put us on more amicable terms. The alternative is always us finding out the hard way, which you would surely not enjoy."

Flopping back onto the bed, I gave him a huge sigh. So no matter what I do, I'm now some prisoner to this X-Com organisation, to serve them in information or manpower, otherwise facing death. Even if I would escape, Singapore would be too far to reach between this unknown place and aliens romping about. Best to do what I can then. "Fine. Get comfortable in that chair, this would be a long story."

* * *

><p>The next two hours consisted of my re-telling what happened since the first patrol where we were annihilated up to my recent capture by the aliens and subsequently, liberated by X-Com. Bradford proved to be a sharp listener, interjecting only when something was unclear or he wanted more information on. The blue-haired soldier, whom I later found out to be named "Kuroda", was a Corporal who was dispatched after a distress call was made from my country to X-Com. Apparently Singapore had been funding the organisation as well, though the national budgets never showed anything. <em>So much for transparency. <em>

Bradford could write, or at least take notes, at an amazing speed. Practically my whole story was jotted down in points on a notepad he fished out from under my bed, smirking at me along the lines of "not exploring the room I was in". Cpl. Kuroda, on the other hand, was a selective listener, picking up only parts which interested her, such as the aliens' technology and my stay at the now destroyed base, ignoring everything else. From the way she looked all over the place in this room did not help to hide the fact that she was bored, but then again, the other four soldiers weren't particularly interested as well.

By the time Bradford was satisfied with my re-telling of the events that led to my capture, Doctor had re-entered the room, saying "its time for medicine!" and proceeded to shoo everyone toward the door. Bradford gave him a stern glare, but proceeded toward the door anyway, the other four soldiers preparing to leave with him. Cpl. Kuroda groaned audibly as she paced to the door, standing where she normally stood when Doctor did his "medical examinations". Bradford however, pulled her out the door with him, signalling one of the other soldiers to remain in the room. Slowly checking his equipment on the tray he brought in with him, Doctor grinned as the tunnel-door slid shut. Apparently he had other agendas.

"So...Daryl Kai, was it?"

I gave Doctor an inquisitive look. He gave me a lopsided smile, before showing me the papers on his clipboard. On it were multiple graphs, walls of text and pie-charts. One image stood out in particular - a triangular metal disc with an orange core. I looked at him again, waiting for an explanation.

Doctor nodded. "After analysing the effects of your... exposure with the aliens, we have found this strange substance in your bloodstream. While it does not harm you in any way, we have yet to determine it's use and why the aliens would place millions of these in your bloodstream. Due to the substance self-destructing after some time, we have been unable to study the substance in detail." Doctor paused, grinning again. "Except that every time I extracted blood from you, the substance seems to still be present, and in the same amount."

I narrowed my eyes at Doctor. _Why was he telling me all this?_

"Now, don't give me that dangerous look. I've yet to tell you anything of significance." Doctor's grin faded into a victorious smile. "For now, we have yet to establish what this substance does. What we have though, is a subject with significant amounts of the substance in his bloodstream. If this subject were to, say, assist me in testing the effects of this substance by volunteering in the field, I suspect that we would not require more..intrusive methods of testing to find out what it is exactly."

My face fell into a huge frown. Doctor was obviously blackmailing me! Glancing behind him, I saw the soldier by the door looking at me, eyes glinting with some expression I could not recognise. He didn't seem disturbed at all by Doctor's speech, if he heard it at all.

"Well then Mr. Kai, what will your decision be?"


	6. Chapter 6 - Welcome to XCOM

Becoming a soldier in the XCOM project seemed to be easier when you have already been with them for weeks as a captive, it seems. After speaking to Cpl Kuroda the next time she came into the room with Doctor; no doubt he had a part to play in convincing the higher-ups as well, she seemed willing to try to take my request to the relevant personnel, leaving the room at the behest of Doctor. Whether or not the request would be granted or not, she didn't promise. Doctor on the other hand, was optimistic about it passing, and snuck notes on XCOM personnel, organisational structure and relevant information that I would supposedly get as a soldier in XCOM. Who knew how he got them?

"Identifying people in XCOM is an easy thing; just look at their designation and you'll know where they're from!" Doctor quipped as he handed me a note on the organisational structure.

XCOM was apparently split up into five organisational units, each with a specific purpose and responsibility. There was the Aviation unit, led by a Lt."Xarfox" Bogman, which oversaw item and people transport as well as XCOM's interceptor "Ravens". Those were the guys I had to thank for pulling the UFO I was captured in out of the sky. The Research unit, led by a Dr. Vahlen whom Doctor was both singing praises and yet heatedly complaining about, handled technology research and the medical bay. Then there was the Engineering unit, which handled equipment and base maintenance as well as item fabrication. They seemed to be the bunch with the workshops to create anything the Research unit could dream of. Doctor ranted about how they were always "occupied" with some other breakdown or improvement that you could never find them in person at all. He did point me to a Dr. Raymond Shen if I needed to identify a "head" of the Engineering unit though. The Support unit basically ran the day-to-day within XCOM, from communications to food and purchases. "They're also the guys whom you don't want to piss off, so don't." Doctor added. Finally, the Frontline unit was made up of combat personnel, and was the one I was probably to be assigned to. It was also the one with most of the fatalities.

Handing me a few more sheets of papers, Doctor mumbled "Read these quickly." I raised an eyebrow at him, but said nothing.

The base itself was designed in a simple way as well - it was a giant X in a circle, with rooms in the four quadrants and outside the circle. Four main access lifts at each point of the X brought one to the multiple floors in the base, generally with the Aviation and Engineering units further to the surface, and Research and Support units further underground. Each quadrant of the base, or "wing" as Doctor called them, was simply called by their direction North, South, East or West. Apparently I was in the South wing, Basement 4, in the medical bay. Or at least an isolated ward within it. The living quarters were on the Basement 2 and 3 floors, while the control rooms and armory were on the top floor. The next few pages went on about the personnel and equipment, down to logistics and suppliers.

As I continued to flip through the hastily scrawled "notes" Doctor scribbled, I began to wonder why it was that he wrote them down, instead of verbally just telling me in the first place. _Wouldn't that be easier?_ Doctor was happily looking over the data in his datapad, expecting me to be occupied by his notes. Moments passed in silence, with me flipping through papers and him tapping away on the datapad. Then all of a sudden I found the papers whisked out of my hands, shoved under Doctor's datapad. Nearly immediately the door whizzed open to reveal Kuroda coming back with Bradford, presumably to "interview" me on my motives and reasoning on my request. Bradford didn't come with an escort this time though; neither was anyone armed.

Wearing an impassive expression, Bradford once again sat on a collapsible chair this time set up by Kuroda and silently eyed me. Doctor, however, seemed to be beaming with an "I told you so!" expression, much to his distaste. After a short moment, Bradford spoke up.

"I'm quite busy now, so I'll make this quick. Why the sudden interest to want to join us?"

Sitting upright, I turned to face Bradford directly. "Because I'm bored."

That seemed to completely throw him off, a hint of annoyance slipping by his face, giving me the chance to continue. "You keep me here telling me Singapore's too far gone to go back to. In the span of the previous week I've had absolutely nothing to do save interact with Doctor and Kuroda when they came in, and at the same time the war against aliens could always use an extra hand - its why you're busy now anyway. Besides, you need people who have faced them before, and you're looking at one."

"And yet your tour of service against the aliens ends with you getting rescued by XCOM. Probably every soldier on his planet has now fought against an alien once, so that point is moot. What makes you think you're so special?" Bradford countered quickly.

"Because I'm already here in XCOM, no need to go through the hassle of transferring another soldier in. The world's struggling against the invasion now; soldiers capable in a fight are hard to come by, defending their own countries. It would also be a waste of both time and resources to let someone who's been _exposed_ to the aliens do nothing now, would it?" Ending lamely, I hope I brought the point across. Though he kept the neutral face, one could see him weighing the pros and cons of keeping me or otherwise. For a moment I caught Bradford's eyes dart to Doctor, who merely shrugged and said, "Dr. Vahlen also prefers live subjects." Behind him, Kuroda gave a quick nod, for whatever that meant.

Closing his eyes for a moment, Bradford mulled over his options, before turning to Kuroda and sighing. "Let him join the next batch of soldiers tomorrow then. Set him up for the tests with the rest of them tomorrow." Turning to leave, he glanced at Doctor again, this time as if confirming something. Nonetheless, Bradford swiftly left the room without another word, probably to catch up with whatever work he had. Doctor was beaming though. "See I told you you'd make it!"

Kuroda however, kept a calmer expression. "Well, he said tomorrow, but I think most of the facilities are free today. No problems with that Doctor?"

"Nope, none. None at all! In fact, go for them now! Send me the results right after please!"

Raising an eyebrow, Kuroda gave Doctor an inquisitive look, but said nothing. Motioning for me to follow, she started walking towards the door as well. Doctor remained in the room, looking at his datapad again, all while looking elated enough to light up the room by himself. Once out of Doctor's earshot, she uttered. "That's one happy person."

"Why would Bradford agree so easily to my joining of XCOM?" I asked Kuroda as I followed behind her.

"Who knows, I'm just happy that I don't have to stand in that room no more. And having another soldier to help us would always be great."

"You're not that only one glad to be out of there. A week in that room doing nothing would bore anyone mad. Maybe that's why Doctor's so nuttily happy."

"Aren't you happy as well?" She remarked, pointing at a glass plane polished so well it reflected my grinning face back at me. "Your face simply shows it. Anyway, welcome to XCOM."

* * *

><p>Passing what was some form of "interview" with Bradford, Kuroda brought me to the gym after tossing me a set of black overalls. "Let's see where you'll end up." she remarked, gesturing to the treadmill. "You'll be covering a 5km run, followed by a 100m sprint right after. The treadmill will count the distance covered and adjust to your running speed, so just let loose." 5km was a strange target, considering my body was still "cold".<p>

"No time to warm up?"

"No. Just run. No space to run around in a deployment plane don't you think?"

True enough, though that didn't make the test any less strange. Stepping onto the treadmill, I hit the big red button and started jogging, starting slow to limber my body first. She watched for a while, but soon wandered off to speak to the other occupants in the gym. There weren't very many people, surprisingly. The gym could easily have 40 people working out at the same time, yet only saw a handful. Where are the rest of the soldiers? Glancing around, I found two women in matching, and rather revealing, attire chatting as they alternated on a treadmill, sprinting and stopping. Interval training, probably. One heavily built man was adjusting the weights on a dumbbell which looked ready for a weightlifting championship. On the other side of the gym, a dark skinned man repeated sets of pushups between jumps, in some form of full body workout. Facing a wall and running is rather boring compared to whats going on around me.

The treadmill beeped, showing a 1.5km on the LCD. _Strange, I've yet to feel tired at all._

"New guy around here?" an inquisitive voice questioned. Turning to face it, I found a pair of ocean-blue eyes curiously looking at me. Shoulder-length blonde hair, fair skin and well-toned body in a sports bra and tight running shorts, she looked as if she had just walked out of a sports apparel advertisement. Probably one of the two women on the treadmill previously; the other was still sprinting the life out of it.

"Yes. How'd you know?"

"Only rookies wear that getup. Mostly we wear what we want outside of missions."

Judging by her clothes, or lack thereof, that much was obvious. "So, higher the rank, more the privileges?"

She chuckled. "Nah not really. Once you get into a squad you'll mostly have access to most of the "privileges" available. Within reason, of course. No reason to deny anyone anything; rank holds nothing in the line of fire anyway."

I nodded, trying not to continue the conversation. Chatting while running was hard, especially when I was running for a test. Then there was this beauty trying to strike up a conversation, and suddenly running became much harder. Focus on your body!

Peeking at the LCD on my treadmill, she raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. Just was she was about to speak again though, someone called out.

"Leah! You're up!"

"Coming!"

Turning back to me, she said, "Well, nice talking to you, Mister..?"

"Daryl. Daryl Kai."

She nodded, "Leah Thompson. Try not to wear yourself out yeah?"

Confused, I looked down at the treadmill's LCD.

2.4km. . . 7:39mins

_Since when did I run this fast?_

* * *

><p>As we walked to the range, I asked Kuroda about the lack of people in the gym. She shrugged in response. "Busy day? Often only Frontline unit personnel have time to use the gym, given the amount of work the other departments have to do, and today there were two deployments."<p>

"Deployments?"

"You'll find out soon. For now, start remembering your firearms training. Incidentally, what gun did you use before you got here?"

"Mostly all of us were using the SAR-21, a bullpup rifle with standard ammo. I used the default sights."

She leveled a bored glare at me. "That doesn't explain much."

"Sorry. Never did pay attention to the weapons lecture. Singapore wasn't a country much for war."

Nodding, she continued. "Then what were you intending to do if you weren't going to be a soldier?"

"I was under a scholarship for computer sciences; would have gone on to university if not for this war."

"And yet you were touting a gun? 'Singapore Armed Forces' if I recall?"

"Singapore had a mandatory 2 year National Service, or basically conscription. Helped to ensure everyone could fight."

"I see. What field of computer sciences were you in, specifically?"

"Mostly computer engineering, with some artificial intelligence and software engineering thrown in. C++, Pi, some Arduino."

She mused for a little. "Hmm. Well, more on that later. The range is through this door," pointing to a pair of sliding doors with brown and red lines around it. "I'll draw a standard assault rifle for you, and we'll see how it goes from there."

Leading the way nonchalantly, identifying herself at the scanner by the door as she walked, Kuroda walked through the sliding doors to reveal a shooting range that took my breath away. The sheer scale and capability of this range would put most other ranges to shame, especially considering that the whole XCOM base was built underground. On top of the standard shooting lanes and alleys, which were up to an incredible range of about 600 meters, there was also a huge, fully fleshed out "practice area" complete with urban and rural debris, structures, trees and other miscellania that looked as though it was part of some modern first person shooter game level. There was even a fully virtual simulator for ranges and situations that could not be created underground. And that was before I got to look at the guns in the armory! For this base to house such a shooting range for it's soldiers spoke to great depths of the engineering and funding put into XCOM.

Eventually regaining my senses, I turned to the counter by the side to find Kuroda leaning on it, she and the counter staff grinning at my gawking of the range.

"I told 'ja this range would drop them jaws of most peoples."

Still smirking, she took an assault rifle and a small box of bullets off the counter before retrieving three coins from her pocket and sliding them back over the counter. "Even though I lost that, the look on his face was still worth it."

"Ain't that truth. Oi, young'un! You here 'fer your test shoot aye?"

Still dumbfounded, I replied with a meek "Yeah."

"Head down lane one and prepare 'ta shoot. Six bullets per target, twenty targets total. Reload every five. Load 'yer magazin-"

"Hey Fergie! Stop stealing my job."

'Fergie' chuckled and gave a mock salute. "Aye aye ma'am."

Kuroda strode over to the first lane with gun in hand, clearing the gun chamber and placing the bullets into the empty magazines by the lane. "That's Ferguson, our armorer. He handles the armory and most of the gun maintenance.

"Friendly guy." I replied, picking up another empty magazine. "Hope everyone here is like that?"

"Yeah, he is. Most people are. Just make sure you have a bead on someone before acting friendly with someone though. Some people don't take well to being warm and fuzzy with others."

"Does that include Bradford?"

Kuroda gave a small smile. "We have to present a stiffer appearance to those outside the organisation; part of decorum. Once you're in here, you'll come to find that most of us just treat each other like extended families. That's not to say that life is easy though, everyone here is extremely proficient at their jobs. Comes with the nature of this organisation. Winding down is just simply as important, especially given our enemies."

Finished with the first magazine, she loaded and cocked the rifle, looking down the sights. "Do you know the basic rules of firearms?"

Stuffing the last bullet into the magazine, I nodded slowly, trying to recall the four rules. "Yes."

"Good. Fergie will have your head if you break them."

Swiping the magazine I was working on, Kuroda passed me the loaded rifle. "I'll load the rest. Target timer starts on first bullet. Enjoy your first shoot."

Checking the gun again, I aimed down my sights to be greeted by a cardboard cut-out of a tiny, emaciated grey humanoid with a huge bloated head. _The same shits that attacked Singapore's streets._ Pressing down the rising feelings of indignation that threatened to surface, I frowned. The last time I stood at a range, I watched as a graying lady, despite knowing that she was well past her prime, pick up a gun and practice shooting. At the end of that her training dummy was barely scratched, and she was left winded, arms trembling. Then there was also that young girl, too young to be at war's frontline. Yet there she stood, trying to emulate her father who was missing in action. Thanks to these alien scum neither of them, nor the other twenty-odd civilians who had volunteered to fight, were free to live their normal lives. At least these cardboard versions of them would be eating lead. Noticing Kuroda's impatient glances, I cleared the depressing thoughts from my mind, gritted my teeth and fired.

* * *

><p>Watching as a good portion of the eighty-odd people filtered out of the officer training school's lecture hall, one could easily tell the difference between those exposed to frontline combat and those who weren't. During his presentation, Bradford emphasized on the necessity of "performing to your utmost best" and "humanity is relying on the success that we will make happen" while displaying pictures from the frontline, complete with the raw brutality of ongoing alien attacks. As a result, those leaving the lecture hall wore varying degrees of a glazed expression on their faces. Those who remained probably wore hard looks on their faces, as a Lt. Bogman stepped up onto the rostrum, speaking tersely.<p>

"Lt. "Xarfox" Bogman. Those brought to XCOM due to aviation experience, follow me."

With that, he strode swiftly out of the hall as well. Though his words took a moment to register, more people began to rise and leave the hall. I figured those who remained were intended for the Frontline unit, and began to take note of them. There was a long-haired redhead standing out among the crowd, giving off a tense and excited expression on her face as she looked around. There was another guy with a huge scar across his back, the start of the scar visible by the side of his T-shirt. There was also an extremely tall and slim man with neatly parted hair, which raised my suspicions. Wasn't there such a person back in the Singaporean base? How would someone so similar to an infiltrator like that get past their initial checks? As I remember XCOM did encounter two such aliens when they recovered me from the UFO, so they should be aware of this species of alien. Standing up to look for Doctor or Kuroda, I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"They're going to go for the tests. Come on, you can have some time to kill." A whisper by my ear, followed by a forceful pull on my hand. Hey! I never said I wasn't going to follow you!

After a short moment of being dragged out the back door of the lecture hall, I find myself face-to-face with Leah from yesterday.

"Daryl, right? Sorry for dragging you out here like this, but I wanted to see the guy who beat my sister's shooting record again." She started with a grin, eyes darting around trying to size me up.

"Beat your sister's shooting record?"

"Yes! Erin holds the record for best accuracy with the assault rifle since the time we got here six months ago, even though she's now a sniper specialist. Hitting most of your shots is expected as a professional soldier, but your accuracy doesn't suffer at all against moving targets? Where do they train soldiers this good? Even I have a hard time doing that."

"Your sister's? Sniper specialist? Huh?" I stuttered, confused.

Her grin turned into a pout. She started unhappily, pressing me against the wall along the walkway. "Yes. You. Beat Erin's previous record of headshots with the assault rifle. And even on your first time handling the rifle too. What cheat were you employing?"

I wasn't cheating at all! I just took shots as I saw them appear! And how did you even find out the results when I myself did not know?

Glancing at her, I could see the dissatisfaction radiating off her in waves, all pointedly aimed at me. Her gaze was intense! Squirming under the pressure of her gaze, I had to find a way out! "...Controlled shooting?" Her glare deepened. Oh nuts. She's annoyed. "I uh, gotta go find Doctor for something." Honest! I still had to ask him about that guy I saw.

Her hand was quicker though. It slammed right into the wall beside my head, freezing me in my tracks.

"No. Not slinking away. We're gonna go shoot again. And you're going to show me just how you took your test."

Grabbing me by the hand again, she started pulling me towards the armory. Why was she so mad about the shoot's results?! The way she led us both toward the armory drew curious glances all around from people walking past. This scene was right out of a comic book! As we stormed past Kuroda, she gave an amused look, quirking her eyebrows, but yet said nothing.

'Help me out here?' I mouthed to her.

She chuckled and continued on her way. So much for that. Trying to keep pace with Leah, a thought struck me. Why would Leah be so mad about me beating her sister's record, even if I did? Her voice sounded slightly different from the Leah I spoke to yesterday as well. Could it be someone similar? Trying my luck, I tried starting with stating the obvious, hopefully to eventually abate her indigenous fury.

"The other new guys are taking the shoot now too."

"Nope, they're doing the fitness test first."

"The lanes would be reserved for them though."

"We'll use the virtual simulator."

"Wouldn't the Aviation unit need those now?"

"They have their own."

"Erin, Are you angry?"

"Yes! No? ...yes." Her expression contorted, passing from confusion to shock and settling on frustration. She did look cute for a moment, even though she looked as if she could herald a god of war right now. "...How did you know?"

"An lucky guess?" Again, the honest truth.

That simply threw her off the rails. Quivering in rage, she grabbed me by the arm and practically dragged me faster towards the armory. _What did I do!?_

As we approached the armory, myself ragged after being forcefully dragged there, the armory door opened to reveal Leah walking out stretching her arms. Catching sight of the both of us, she waved, before gasping as Erin? dragged me past her.

"Sis?" A concerned voice. "Hey Sis? What's wrong? Calm down!"

'Fergie' was the next to cry out. "Oy girl! Don' go stormin' in like 'at!"

Tossing me by the closest lane she could, Erin stomped towards a weapons rack, reaching out to pull out both a long rifle as well as a rifle similar to the one I used. A scuffle broke out as Erin tried to grab the second rifle, 'Fergie' and Leah in tow trying to stop her.

Exasperated, Leah exclaimed, "Stop acting like a little child and calm the hell down! Now, what's going on?!"

...

Accompanying the two sisters out of the armory could not have been a more awkward task. On one hand, I had Erin pointedly ignoring me while relating the whole sequence of events to her twin sister, as I just found out. On the other hand, Leah was desperately hiding her mirth as she tried to stay neutral in the situation, "keeping as a proper mediator" as she said. Erin wasn't slow to catch on to her though, and soon began to pout at her sister as well.

"So, Daryl was it?" I nodded. "Sorry about that, Erin here's very proud of her shooting record. Till now, you're the first in a long list of challengers to beat her rifle record." Patting Erin's shoulder for emphasis, she grinned. "As least now you have a prodigy."

With widening eyes, Erin vehemently denied it. "No way! We'll be having another shoot. There's no way those results could have been legitimate!" Glaring at me, she added, "Right?"

Faced against her intense glare again, I felt danger creeping up my back. Pointedly ignoring her gaze, I rubbed my stomach, hopefully diverting attention away from the 'shooting' topic. "..hey. Where's the cafeteria?"

Leah chuckled. "My my."

* * *

><p>Lunch passed without much incident, although Erin was still annoyed. Since I had already completed my initial 'tests', I was free to do as I would. Leah volunteered to show me around the base, Erin in tow after she convinced her that I would have another set of tests to go though which included shooting. Something called 'class selection' if I heard right. The XCOM base had a good mix between luxury and efficiency, what with recreation rooms, bars and even bunks that appeared to look more like deluxe suites than barrack bunks at all. There were even gardens for personnel to relax in! Yet at the same time the number of facilities within the base was not minuscule either. Outside of that huge armoryrange there was an entire floor for engineering and fabrication labs, and another floor for research laboratories, with open "unused" rooms sitting around for future expansions. Though we were not allowed into the Research Labs due to security reasons, we did manage to spot Dr Shen working on an upgrade to the armor that soldiers wore on missions, and Erin did demonstrate how the fabrication labs worked. Commonly Research staff, and sometimes other personnel, would suggest an idea with either the blueprints or specifications for construction, and try to see if construction was feasible. Passing that with authorization with a higher ranking officer, Engineers at the Fabrication Labs would then try to create that item for use.

What really caught my attention though, was how the Frontline unit was organised. Instead of hand-picking soldiers based on the mission, XCOM ran missions by squads, with squad leaders discussing with the Commander of XCOM and Bradford whether their squad would deploy to the mission on hand. This resulted in tighter-knit teams of soldiers which, as the Commander believed, led to higher chances success when the situation went 'FUBAR'. "Which tends to be quite common." Erin added sarcastically. Because of that ideology, the squad barrack was shared between all members of the squad regardless of gender or nationality, which surprised me. Noting my surprise, Leah did add that there were separate bedrooms for both genders within the same squad barrack, though other facilities were shared. "Think of it as a miniature resort and you'll have it more or less right." It was also up to the squad leaders to decide which members to bring on missions, as well as what extra training they went on.

Towards the end of the day, an announcement was made for the new Frontline personnel, detailing them into temporary squads for the purposes of the next round of tests. I found myself placed under 'Delta', along with four other names. According to Leah, the original Delta squad suffered a disastrous mission where an unexpected pod of aliens flanked them, cutting them off in a crossfire of plasma. "Only two members of the seven assigned on that mission survived, and one is still in ICU. Compared to Alpha, Bravo and Charlie squads, that was the most causalities in a single mission so far." Leah said disapprovingly. "Although you never really know where the pods of aliens there are in a mission, it is still wrong to assume they would not communicate among themselves." Erin did also add that the mission lacked adequate preparation as well, as that was the first time they met the 'Thin Men'.

Regardless, the two of them brought me to the Delta squad's barrack, which was slightly a ways from their own Bravo squads'. Looking at the XCOM logo hung outside the door with a "B3-06 - Delta" on top of it, I wondered how the world's changed in the span on three months. Aliens have invaded Earth, and all sense of everyday has flown out of the window. Entire countries have surrendered to the aliens, others limping along as they tried to regain whats left of civilization. Most of them now live under martial law, citizens probably struggling to live as the prices of food and basic necessities would skyrocket. What was once the world's superpowers, the United States as well as China were unable to completely stall the invasion on their own shores, leaving the weaker countries to fend for themselves. Most of all, myself, once a twenty-one year old computer engineering student is now on the world's frontlines to defend it. Sighing at the irony of the situation, I turned to open the barrack door. _This would be my new life now._

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Sorry this took so long. Between camp and new game beta's coming out, I procrastinated more than normal. /swt**

**As an answer to thepkrmgc, yes the substance is meld from EW, though I would think that meld does more than simply sit around when it's in your bloodstream.**


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